The transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) protein family consists of three distinct isoforms found in mammals (TGFβ1, TGFβ2, and TGFβ3). The TGFβ proteins activate and regulate multiple gene responses that influence disease states, including cell proliferative, inflammatory, and cardiovascular conditions. TGFβ is a multifunctional cytokine originally named for its ability to transform normal fibroblasts to cells capable of anchorage-independent growth. The TGFβ molecules are produced primarily by hematopoietic and tumor cells and can regulate, i.e., stimulate or inhibit, the growth and differentiation of cells from a variety of both normal and neoplastic tissue origins (Sporn et al., Science, 233: 532 (1986)), and stimulate the formation and expansion of various stromal cells.
The TGFβs are known to be involved in many proliferative and non-proliferative cellular processes such as cell proliferation and differentiation, embryonic development, extracellular matrix formation, bone development, wound healing, hematopoiesis, and immune and inflammatory responses. See e.g., Pircher et al, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 136: 30-37 (1986); Wakefield et al., Growth Factors, 1: 203-218 (1989); Roberts and Sporn, pp 419-472 in Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology cds M. B. Sporn & A. B. Roberts (Springer, Heidelberg, 1990); Massague et al., Annual Rev. Cell Biol., 6: 597-646 (1990); Singer and Clark, New Eng. J. Med., 341: 738-745 (1999). Also, TGFβ is used in the treatment and prevention of diseases of the intestinal mucosa (WO 2001/24813). TGFβ is also known to have strong immunosuppressuve effects on various immunologic cell types, including cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) inhibition (Ranges et al., J. Exp. Med., 166: 991, 1987), Espevik et al., J. Immunol., 140: 2312, 1988), depressed B cell lymphopoiesis and kappa light-chain expression (Lee et al., J. Exp. Med., 166: 1290, 1987), negative regulation of hematopoiesis (Sing et al., Blood, 72: 1504, 1988), down-regulation of HLA-DR expression on tumor cells (Czarniecki et al., J. Immunol., 140: 4217, 1988), and inhibition of the proliferation of antigen-activated B lymphocytes in response to B-cell growth factor (Petit-Koskas et al., Eur. J. Immunol., 18: 111, 1988). See also U.S. Pat. No. 7,527,791.
Antibodies to TGFβ have been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,527,791; 7,927.593; 7,494,651; 7,369,111; 7,151,169; 6,492,497; 6,419,928; 6,090,383; 5,783,185; 5,772,998; 5,571,714; and 7,723,486.